What is actually being searched when I don't specify a search field or when I search all fields?
Answer
When searching in databases, you are asked to enter a term or keyword into the query box and, sometimes, also specify the search field with wants to search in (example: title, abstract, journal title, etc.). However, databases also offer the option of searching in all fields, or will automatically search all fields if no other field is specified. In this case, the database will search through the article's metadata, which is information about the article.
These are the most common metadata fields:
- Title
- Abstract
- Authors
- Keywords
- Journal Title
- Publication Date
Metadata can be found on the article's record page. Here is an example from Ovid Medline, with the fields on the left in bold:
It is important to note that when you are searching in all fields or do not specify as search field, you are not searching the full-text of the article.